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The Day We Died
|next = }} "The Day We Died" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of Fringe. Synopsis As the thrilling third season propels to a climactic close, questions will be answered as Peter confronts his destiny and a beloved team member meets an untimely demise. Plot From the previous episode, Peter Bishop has stepped into the Machine to attempt to stop it after Walternate had activated the version in the Alternate Universe. He gains consciousness in the future, after an attack at the One World Trade Center. In 2026, the prime universe is suffering from the same singularities that have already destroyed the parallel universe, as a result of the two universes being inextricably linked together. Though the Fringe Division that developed in this universe has been able to use Amber to contain these vertices, a group called the "End of Dayers", led by a man named Moreau, attempts to breach the fabric of reality at soft spots and create more vortices. After one such incident at a theatre, Peter and Olivia Dunham, now married, along with Astrid Farnsworth and Ella Dunham, Olivia's niece and now a rookie Fringe agent, find an unactivated container that they believe the End of Dayers used to trigger the breach. Fringe is unable to determine how the container works, and Peter convinces Phillip Broyles, now a Senator, to allow him to release his father Walter Bishop from maximum security prison to help identify its workings. After tearfully reuniting with his son and new daughter-in-law, Walter discovers the device uses a unique radioactive signature they can track. The strongest source points to a campground, where Peter discovers a key. He recognizes the key as from Walter's old home near Reiden Lake and travels there alone. He finds his biological father, Walternate, present. Walternate admits to being behind the End of Dayers group, as his revenge for Peter activating the Machine and destroying the parallel world that was his home. Walternate promises that Peter will face the same pain and suffering he has faced since crossing to the prime universe on a mission of mercy, one piece at a time. Peter realizes that Walternate is speaking of Olivia, and finds that the Walternate he is talking to is a hologram. Meanwhile, in Central Park, where Moreau has set off another breach to expose an existing wormhole, Olivia is helping to cordon off the breach when Walternate approaches and kills her. Peter and the rest of Fringe division struggle with her death at her funeral. Walter continues to study the Central Park wormhole and discovers that it links to the past, approximately 200 million years ago. He comes to realize a temporal paradox: he will have sent the device piece by piece into the past, effectively becoming the "First People" mythos, and convinces Peter they can influence Peter in the past by having him experience the end of days and make a different decision when he enters the machine. Peter, back in 2011 in the machine, wakes up to find Olivia still alive, and himself still in the machine. In the parallel universe, Walternate attempts to convince Bolivia to help stop the machine. Peter recalls his experiences from the future, and uses the machine to merge the rooms from both universes into one. While Olivia and Walter and their dopplegangers stare each other down, Peter convinces the two sides to work together to try to repair the damage to save both universes, then suddenly disappears. The Olivias and Walters agree that they need to put aside their differences in order to save both worlds. Outside on Liberty Island in the original universe, the Observers watch as September notes to December that Peter has already been forgotten by his friends, his purpose having been served, and concludes that Peter now never existed. Notable Quotes Walter: I'm so sorry, Ella. I understand... words can't come close to mitigating your loss. Truly, if I could go back and change things, I would. I would give anything to go back and make different choices. Ella: But you can't. There aren't any happy endings nowadays, are there? Walter: No, I suppose not. Ella: I remember the cow that stayed over there. She had kind eyes. Walter: She did, didn't she? My Gene. I miss her Olivia: Amanda from across the street gave it to us. That's you and me and the little baby that we're going to have, that she is planning on babysitting. Peter: Ohh. Well, I think we should get started on that right away. Olivia: You really going to use a drawing from a little girl to get lucky? Peter: It sounds so dirty when you say it like that. Walter: Our destiny was set the day we triggered the machine. I didn't understand it until it was too late that our two worlds were inextricably linked. Without one, the other simply cannot exist. When their world was destroyed, that was the day we sealed our fate. For all intents and purposes... that was the day we died. Notes *Ten Observers appear on Liberty Island after Peter is erased. *The Day We Died contains several purely coincidental similarities to the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special: The Day Of The Doctor. In both stories a tired and battered protagonist is inexplicably shown a vision of the future in order to give them a new perspective on their current situation allowing them to change their own timeline. The future events of both stories also contain a seemingly unrelated plotline that informs how the central character makes his final decision. Oddly the cypher for this story is also a phrase use regularly by the War Doctor in the anniversary special. Cypher Category:Season Three Episodes